The Dram – Ken Gargett, Australia

THE DRAM

There are still a few odds and ends to tie up from the year 2020: COVID disruption aside, we’ve collected some quick-reads and updates on happenings in the recent history of the whisky industry.

SPANISH WHISKY FRAUDS BUSTED

Anyone following the news in recent years will be aware that counterfeiting fine wine has become a major criminal industry. It was inevitable that this would spill over into spirits, at every level.

Spanish authorities have had a big win in the fight against fakes, with a series of arrests at the end of 2020 (something good had to come out of that horrible year).

The raid by the La Guardia Civil and the Spanish Tax Agency revealed 27,000 boxes of what has been described as a ‘“well-known” whiskey brand’. It was a well-planned raid on a well-planned criminal operation, making and distributing fake whisky. We have not been advised of the brand which was the subject of the counterfeits but it was estimated that the fraud could have cost the genuine producer as much as four million euros. What was seized was valued at around A$1,000,000 (although why fake whisky is worth anything is a question I cannot answer). 14 people, between 37 and 52, were arrested. There was a chain of more than 60 businesses and factories involved in the operation, with different enterprises attending to different parts of the plan – one importing counterfeit tax stamps, another sourcing fake bottles and labels, yet another producing the cheap knock-off whisky, and so on. The whisky was reportedly destined for Spain, and for export to Austria, Belgium, France, Holland, Moldova and Russia.

Such a success by the forces for good is something to which all whisky lovers can raise a glass. Of the real stuff.

INTERNET SITE PLAYS DETECTIVE

As anyone who has had any of their precious old whiskies stolen knows, it is a gut-wrenching experience. Speaking from experience, I can say that any reports where the perpetrators are caught are music to grumpy ears (in my case, when the thieves were caught, the real dagger to the heart was that they were not enjoying any of the decades-old malts but the cheapest white rum imaginable – needless to say, despite great work by the police, the bottles were never found).

So it was a joy to read that the sharp-eyed team at the London-based internet site Whisky.Auction has aided police in the capture of a man described as a ‘dangerous and prolific fraudster’.

On receipt of a note from a potential vendor late last year, alarm bells went off. The note said that the vendor had “a very valuable new release” that he wanted to move quickly. Staff described that bottle as “an unusual choice to be sold on so quickly”. As they do with every bottle, it was thoroughly inspected to ensure authenticity. Although there was no direct evidence of theft and it was not on the list of stolen bottles, the team decided something was not right and alerted the police.

Turned out the vendor was a ‘prolific burglar who had been evading police capture for some time’. The team at Whisky.Auction assisted the police to track him down and he was subsequently arrested. Clearly, a good bottle of whisky is not good for everyone’s health and we hope he spends a long period incarcerated. The team has form in assisting the police. In 2017, they provided evidence to help the police arrest a London-based spirits counterfeiter, although he skipped bail and is still free.

Cheers to the team at Whisky.Auction!

LIVE LONG AND DRINK WHISKY!

Around the world, everyone knows that this pernicious coronavirus is especially dangerous to anyone who has, shall we say, passed the first bloom of youth. Our aged population has been especially at risk.

So when 106-year-old Mary ‘Polly’ Nicholson contracted the virus, not once but twice – the second time with a positive test on New Year’s Eve – it is no doubt her friends and family were extremely concerned. But to everyone’s surprise and relief, our intrepid pensioner survived on both occasions.

The secret? Polly believes it is down to two things. She has always enjoyed a butter-andcream-rich diet and especially her evening tipple of whisky.

Now it might be wishful thinking, but if a glass of whisky proves to be the virus’s nemesis, that would be reason for a celebration. And cheers to Polly Nicholson, but perhaps she better lay off all that butter and cream.

INDIAN WHISKY

If all of the “whisky” drunk in India was true whisky, then they would be a clear winner in consumption and production stakes. They drink more ‘whisky’ than any other nation in the world. Unfortunately, there is a more lax attitude to labelling than most whisky-producing nations would tolerate.

Most Indian whiskies tend to be blends of various spirits including a considerable quantity of neutral spirit distilled from molasses (one might say that their whisky industry is closer to rum than whisky). India does not have a compulsory definition for whisky and there is no requirement that it be distilled from cereal or be matured. There are no regulations pertaining to flavourings. In the end, what we might call whisky is around 10 to 12% of production.

No prizes for guessing that the popularity of whisky in India dates back to the Raj and the influence of the British. The Kasauli Brewery, established in the late 1820’s, was converted to Indian’s first distillery.

Amrut Distilleries kicked off in 1982 and its use of barley was the first serious effort at what we would see as whisky; but as there was little tradition of single malts, blending was the order of the day. Eventually, they offered India’s first malt whisky in 2004. Other distillers emerged and Indian companies also acquired foreign producers, like Dalmore, Isle of Jura and Whyte & Mackay.

India’s fascination with Scotch has grown exponentially. Whisky, in whatever form you like, occupies 60% of their spirits market. Issues have been the use of grains for alcohol in a country struggling with poverty and hefty duties. Ageing is an issue but distillers believe one year in the Indian climate equals three years in Scotland. India is now the second largest market for Scotch whisky in the world by volume (131 million bottles) and the seventh largest by value ($303 million AUD).

TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS TO FILLING CASKS

One of the major problems faced by whisky distillers is inconsistent cask fill, whether it comes from overspill, underfill or foaming. And it costs the industry millions every year.

To try and prevent this, Diageo has teamed with the University of Strathclyde and technology firms to come up with a digital cask-filling process. Diageo is, of course, owner of the ubiquitous Johnnie Walker, as well as Talisker, Haig, J&B, Buchanan’s, Grand Old Parr, Singleton, Lagavulin and more, so it is easy to see how important this could be. No doubt that the scientists among us could better explain the process, but it involves test rigs and a cyber-physical system (any the wiser? I’m not). This includes a digital twin replicating the process. This will allow distillers to “account for every drop that goes into each cask, achieving more than 99% fill consistently on a 200-litre cask in under one minute”. It will also enable a “high degree of repeatability”, contribute to improvements to health and safety, and also reduce waste.

Diageo alone has more than 11 million casks so even saving a few drops from each will soon add up.

WHISKY GALORE!

Over the years, numerous tales of shipwrecked champagnes have emerged, none more famous than the unfortunate schooner, the Jonkoping, sunk by a German U-Boat, and its cargo of 1907 Heidsieck (a truly amazing champagne still drinking beautifully if you are so fortunate as to come across a bottle). What was less well known was that there was also a large quantity of spirits on that ship, but they did not survive their time under the waves of the Baltic. It seems that those who salvaged an old Scottish shipwreck had more luck.

The ‘SS Politician’ sank off a part of the Scottish coast known as the the Outer Hebride in 1941, but the biggest question of all in this tale must surely be what on earth would encourage anyone to name a ship the ‘Politician’? It was surely destined to sink.

Commercial diver George Currie discovered the wreck in 1987 while working on a subsea cable repair. Originally, the ship had been carrying 28,000 cases of whisky. Currie was able to recover five bottles and kept one. The whiskey, along with cotton and biscuits and $3 million in Jamaican banknotes, was on its way to New Orleans and Jamaica when it ran aground on a sandbank (despite it being War time, it seems our vessel had a most prosaic termination). Another report says 8 bottles were recovered and the diver was Donald MacPhee. I guess we can say that a few bottles, most of which were sold, were recovered by a diver.

The rest? Apparently, locals from the island of Eriskay helped themselves, provided the plot to a popular novel and movie of the day, ‘Whisky Galore’. The government was so incensed by this looting (or ‘salvage’ as the Islanders preferred to think of it) that they set explosives in the Politician to sink it and destroy any remaining bottles. Turns out a few bottles survived.

Currie’s bottle, deemed undrinkable, was to be auctioned with some bricks recovered from the wreck and a diving helmet. The estimate was £20,000 for the curious mixed bundle.

The result? No idea. Although there were many news reports leading up to the auction, there appears to be nothing advising of the result. Perhaps there was less interest than anticipated in a bottle of undrinkable whisky, a few bricks and a helmet. Go figure.

THE RED COLLECTION

So what is the oldest whisky ever bottled and what is it worth?

The answer was to be found at Sotheby’s in London last October. A set, donated by The Macallan, of their Red Collection of six extraordinary whiskies, went up for auction on Halloween. The (low) estimate was just £200,000 ($365,700 AUD), but the set went for an impressive £756,400. Purchased by an ‘Asian private collector’, proceeds went to City Harvest London, the food charity which redistributes surplus from the food industry to vulnerable people. It is estimated that this generosity will provide nearly 2.5 million meals for those in need.

The Macallan Red Collection consists of a 40-Year-Old, 50-Year-Old and 60-Year-Old, plus the 71-Year-Old and 74-Year-Old. The final bottle is the 78-Year-Old, the oldest whisky ever released by Macallan and what is believed to be the oldest age-statement whisky ever offered at auction, or indeed, bottled. The labels were done by Spanish artist Javi Aznarez.

This Collection has only two sets – this one and one to remain in the Macallan archives.

Covid might be ravaging the planet but it is certainly not slowing the interest in old and rare whisky.

MACALLAN MAGIC

Last issue of Explore Whisky revealed some of the extraordinary prices being paid for old and rare whiskies. We had bottle of 1966 Bowmore go for almost $70,000 ($128,000 AUD). That was left in the dust by a pair of 1926 Macallan whiskies, which sold for US$1.2m each.

Earlier this year, prices went nuts again. The collection of whisky devotee Richard Gooding went up on Whisky Auctioneer as a two-part online sale called ‘The Perfect Collection’. Part One offered 1,932 bottles and Part Two was intended to be similar.

Part One drew more than 1,600 bidders from 56 countries, who spent US$4.3 million. Another bottle of the 1926 ‘Valerio Adami’ Macallan (impressive as only 40 bottles of this 1926 were ever bottled,) sold for a record US $1,072,000 ($1,300,000 AUD), not including commissions and taxes. What makes this bottle even more special is that of the 40 bottles made, only 24 received special labels from two famous designers: Sir Peter Blake - of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” popularity - and Valerio Adami. Each person created 12 labels for an already rare Macallan. Makes you wish you’d grabbed the two auctioned around the turn of the century which went for £15,000 and £18,000, or grabbed one in 2003 for £20,000 as part of the Vintage Macallan program.

Part Two was offering The Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare, Glenfiddich 1937 Rare Collection 64-YearOld, Macallan 50-Year-Old Lalique Six Pillars, Dallas Dhu 1921 Private Cask 64-Year-Old, Glenfiddich 50-Year-Old 1st Edition, Macallan 1928 Anniversary Malt 50-Year-Old, The Balvenie 1937 Pure Malt 50-Year-Old and other gems.

Sadly, a cyber attack on the site put the auction on hold so hopefully you will still have a chance at some of the world’s rarest and most valuable whiskies.

DOUBLE GOLD FOR AUSTRALIA

The San Francisco World Spirits Competition winners have been announced and Archie Rose Rye Malt Whisky has been named Australia’s best. It was the only local rye whisky to take home a double gold medal, meaning every judge awarded Archie Rose Rye Malt Whisky a gold medal after a blind tasting.

Archie Rose Distiller’s Strength Gin also received the coveted double gold stamp and its Single Malt Whisky was awarded a shiny gold medal too.

Five more Archie Rose spirits took home silver and bronze medals in the comp. Silver for Signature Dry Gin, Sydney Opera House Outside Gin and White Rye, and bronze for Original Vodka and Sydney Opera House Inside Gin.

For so many of its spirits to stand up like this on the world stage is an amazing result for the Archie Rose team, and further proof of how truly great Australian distilling is. We’ll toast to that!

HIDDEN TREASURES

So what is hidden away in the walls of your home? Up in the attic? Behind that panel in the cellar?

For Nick Drummond and Patrick Bakker, a couple in Ames, New York, carrying out renovations revealed an unimagined treasure. What they thought was insulation in the walls turned out to be bottles of whisky, squirreled away by a previous owner. The couple had been told that their home was originally built by a famous bootlegger, but it had never occurred to them that some of his illicit loot was literally on site!

Drummond made the find when he pulled off some of the wooden exterior panels. He found more underneath the floorboards of his ‘mudroom’ (and no, I have no idea what a ‘mudroom’ is). The bottles dated back into the 1920’s.

As one does these days, he announced his find, as ‘bootlegger bungalow’, on social media. Originally, they unearthed full 42 bottles. Sadly, some others were broken. They were packed in brown paper bundles, six bottles in each. Each individual bottle was wrapped in straw and labelled ‘Old Smuggler Gaelic Whiskey’, bottled

by the Stirling Bonding Company. Stickers on the bottles dated them to 1923.

It is believed that the house was built by the mysterious Adolph Humpfner in 1915. He died in 1932 with a disputed estate worth US$140,000. Adolph was a German immigrant who called himself Count Humpfner, although he had several aliases. He was always seen in a buffalo hide coat.

Drummond has said he hopes to try one of the bottles (one wonders what is stopping him) and intends to install a glass panel in his floor so he can view the bundles below, which seems a rather bizarre thing to do and something that might well change when he discovers how much such bottles might be worth. When the cache expanded to 66 bottles, and they were valued at, at least $1000 each, the plans did change. The couple intend on drinking one or two and selling the rest.

Apparently, Old Smuggler, named after the whisky smugglers who operated around the Scottish Islands, was first bottled back in 1835. It is still popular in Argentina and Belgium. The divinities certainly have a sense of humour, a bootlegger with a whisky called Old Smuggler!

GLENMORANGIE AND GIRAFFES

What on earth do giraffes have to do with Glenmorangie whisky? It turns out that the distiller, founded in 1843 in the Highland district and now part of the LVMH empire, has stills – the tallest in Scotland – which are approximately the same height as that of a fully grown giraffe. And over time, this majestic animal became the symbol of this much-loved whisky.

Unfortunately, giraffes are suffering. Numbers have declined 30% in 30 years. Glenmorangie has, admirably, decided to do something about it. They have entered into a three-year global conservation partnership with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. As well as providing funds to help conserve them in the wild, they will also assist in financing a suitable environment for those giraffes at the Edinburgh Zoo. As Thomas Moradpour, president and chief executive of The Glenmorangie Company, said, “Together, we will work to protect giraffes in the wild and shine a light on their predicament before it’s too late.”

And should anyone wish to aid the effort, https:// giraffeconservation.org/partners/glenmorangie/.

THE WEIRD AND THE WONDERFUL

In a previous edition of Explore Whisky, we detailed some of the weird and wonderful whiskies/spirits that, in the absence of common sense, I had sampled. African Hots in the Cameroons and a Scorpion Whisky from Taiwan perhaps the two that really stand out. We even looked at a few I’d not been so stupid as to try – yet. Well, the thing about the drinks industry, there’ll always be something new come along, whether utterly magnificent or truly horrifying. Sometimes, these won’t actually be new but simply finally found their way onto your radar.

A quick recap with appropriate additions. Not all of them are whisky-based, of course, but that does seem a spirit that makes a few too many appearances in this field.

RU’O’U THUÔC. A cobra whisky from Vietnam. Our friends from Vietnam are not known to restrict themselves solely to venomous snakes but have included everything from geckos to termites. Rather poetically, there have apparently been more than a few occasions when the snake has somehow managed to survive and felt entitled to take up the issue of its incarceration with the poor sod who opened the jar! But why snake venom whisky? Virility and hair loss, apparently.

ALCHERMES. A spirit based tonic with all manner of herbs and spices and such goodies as ambergris, ground pearls, raw silk, gold leaf and rose water (and much more), but made scarlet red by the addition of a small scale insect called Kermes. Allegedly good for the heart. And measles and smallpox.

GIANT CENTIPEDE WHISKEY. Vietnam has cobra whisky; Thailand has foot long centipedes in theirs. Supposedly good for back and muscle pain and can even work as an aphrodisiac, but then doesn’t everything? In case you were concerned, the centipede is apparently ‘detoxified’ before immersion in the bottle. Perhaps the Vietnamese should try that as well?

AGWA DE BOLIVIA. A bit like Coca-Cola in that the psychotropic components from the coca leaves, those used in the production of cocaine, have been stripped before use. Distillation proceeds and the resulting bright green liqueur is considered to assist in the treatment of headaches and altitude sickness. There are apparently some 37 other herbs and botanicals included in the preparation, such as green tea and ginseng. Variations have been made in South America for centuries, but it was the De Medici family in Bologna in 1820 who first brought it to Europe. Production is now centred in Amsterdam, which does not seem so surprising. Rudyard Kipling described it as made “from the clippings and shavings of angels’ wings”.

BABY MICE WINE. Given there is some debate as to whether this should be considered a wine or a high alcohol concoction, perhaps we will spare you this Chinese/Korean delicacy. Given our next horror show is from a spirit, you don’t get to escape.

THREE PENIS LIQUOR. Distilled with the penis of a dog, a seal and a deer, it, and this will come as a shocker, apparently improves vitality and virality (although perhaps not for the unfortunate trio). But who on earth came up with this recipe in the first place? A disgruntled zookeeper?

WILLIE PRATT (AKA DR NO) PASSES

The sad news of Willie Pratt’s passing came in the last few days of 2020, rounding off what we mostly will see has a terrible year. Aka Dr No, Willie Pratt was a highly influential master distiller known for his 45 years working at Brown Forman before becoming the master distiller at Michter’s.

Willie Pratt’s influence in whiskey is immense. His reputation as a perfectionist giving him the nickname, Dr No, referencing his determination not to release a Bourbon until ready. He often credited the marketing department with this moniker, but insiders confirmed this reluctance on release date.

Willie joined the industry at the tender age of 20, joining Brown Forman as an apprentice while studying evening classes at the University of Louisville. Willie repaid Brown Forman’s faith in him devoting the next 45 years working in a variety of roles for the distiller of Jack Daniels before retiring at 65.

His passion for Bourbon lured him back in the role of master distiller for Michter’s, responsible for the development of the Shively Distillery.

“To work with Willie and to have him as a friend was a tremendous gift. When challenges seemed overwhelming, that’s when Willie’s leadership would shine through”, said Michter’s President Joseph J Magliocco.

Willie is survived by his beloved wife Patsy, his children, his grandchildren and great grand children, and his dog Sophie.